Ramesh offers Rs 990 cr to WCD ministry

New Delhi: Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Saturday made an offer of Rs 990 Crore to the Women and Child Development Ministry for its women empowerment programmes in gram panchayats.

He announced that one per cent of the budget of the Ministry of Rural Development will go towards the appointment of Mahila Gram Samanvayaks or village coordinator. The Rural Development Ministry has a budget of Rs 99,000 crore.

"I make an offer. We can start with the most backward- Naxal-affected or districts where female literacy is low. We can share one per cent of the budget of the Rural Development Ministry budget. You can get Rs 990 crore provided the Finance Ministry approvals are obtained," he said at the launch of Covergence Projects of National Mission for Empowerment of Women here.
He made this offer citing the developments in Kamrup district of Assam and Pali of Rajasthan where all the gram sabhas have employed two women coordinators each for creating awareness women on issues like child sex ratio, malnutrition.

"I have learnt that in two districts - Kamrup and Pali - all the gram sabhas have employed two women coordinators each who are paid an amount of Rs 4,000 per month," he told the function presided over by WCD Minister Krishna Tirath and also attended by Panchayati Raj Minister Kishore Chandra Deo.

If all the 2.40 lakh gram sabhas in the country were to employ such women coordinators to work for issues related to women`s development, then an approximate budget of Rs 2,500 crore would be suggested, Ramesh said.
He said how this money will be spent would have to be explained to the Finance Ministry.

Speaking on the occasion, Tirath said the National Mission of Women is like an umbrella, or a platform, for the convergence of programmes and schemes aimed at the socio- economic development of women, that are currently under different ministries and departments.